Scripture Daily

Context No. 382 of 4322 · 2 Kings

Context · Reflection

2 Kings 14:7-14: in context

7He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day. 8Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let’s look one another in the face.” 9Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ Then a wild animal that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled down the thistle. 10You have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy the glory of it, and stay at home; for why should you meddle to your harm, that you fall, even you, and Judah with you?” 11But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. 12Judah was defeated by Israel; and each man fled to his tent. 13Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh and came to Jerusalem, then broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. 14He took all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the LORD’s house and in the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.

Amaziah, king of Judah, has just won a real and impressive victory, defeating Edom and capturing a stronghold. And the victory does something to him, which the text names plainly: his heart was lifted up. Emboldened by his success, he sends a challenge to Jehoash, the stronger king of Israel, essentially daring him to a fight: come, let us look one another in the face.

Jehoash sends back a reply that is half fable and half warning, and it is wiser than Amaziah deserves. He tells a little story about a thistle in Lebanon that presumptuously demanded a marriage alliance with a mighty cedar, and was simply trampled flat by a passing wild animal. Then he drops the fable and speaks straight: you have indeed struck Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory, and stay home. Why should you provoke trouble to your own harm, so that you fall, and Judah with you? It is exactly the counsel a person riding high most needs and least wants to hear: be content with the victory you have won, and do not let it bait you into a fight that will ruin you. But Amaziah, drunk on his one success, would not listen. He marched out, and Judah was routed, and he himself was captured, and the victor broke down four hundred cubits of Jerusalem's wall and stripped the gold from the temple and the palace.

The whole disaster grew out of a good thing, a genuine victory, mishandled by pride. One success inflated Amaziah into overreaching, and the overreach cost him everything he had. Where has a real success of mine gone to my head and started tempting me to overreach, to pick a fight or push into territory I have no business in, and can I hear the hard counsel to enjoy the win I have and stay home?

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